Lake Geneva new fish shop

[Mugwump]

Looks like Bruce from the GCCA has bought himself a fish store up there....

http://www.gcca.net/forumindex/20-forum-announcements/32950-i-bought-a-fish-store

or

https://www.facebook.com/BroadStreetPets

[LizStreithorst]

Brave man.  Best of luck to him.

[b125killer]

I wish him best of luck. Maybe with the support of the GCCA he can pull it off.

[Mugwump]

The shop that he bought was a thriving business in the day. It has an excellent 'rep'...he'll likely do fine up there. Steve and Bob know the place...

[wsantia1]

I wish Bruce lots of success.

[sschind]

Ken (the guy Bruce bought it from) was a very good friend of mine and the loss of his wife a few months ago and a 2 month stint in the hospital with his own health issues made the sale inevitable. I knew he was talking to someone about it.  He said the guy worked for Apet.  Todd Raysby told me about it a few days ago and I just talked to Ken yesterday.

Ken was a saltwater fish guru and he used to regale me with stories of unloading boxes of fish at midnight after getting back from the airport with customers stopping by with beer and ... well beer anyway   He used to be a full line shop but pretty much since I have known him (about 15-16 years or so) Kens Animal House had bee pretty much fish only.  He never got too much into cichlids because like i said he was known for his saltwater and that is where his interests were.

Some people have said that Kens had run down a lot in recent years even before the health issues and that may be true but it certainly wasn't from a lack of passion on Ken's part.  It seems like ever since the petco opened up in Lake Geneva his business suffered.  It is hard to stay relevant in an industry that has changed so much in the past 10 years when you don't have the business and the income to make the changes needed.  Its also hard to stay relevant when you are an old geezer who is set in his ways (Not that I can really blame Ken for that.  Hell I'm not and old geezer and I was set in my ways and I couldn't find a way to stay relevant either)

I wish Bruce the best of luck.  Lake Geneva is not the best town in the world to do business in if you do not cater to the tourists, and its pretty hard to sell fish to people on weekend getaways.  Rents are expensive and parking simply sucks now that they have the new meterless parking meters everywhere.  The store is going to need some work to freshen it up but his new enthusiasm  may be enough to carry him through. I'm sure with all his friends from the GCCA it will help.

[Mugwump]

Thanks Steve, your story on Ken and the history of the shop helps put things in perspective. My first thoughts were about the Lake Geneva populace supporting it too.

[sschind]

Thanks Steve, your story on Ken and the history of the shop helps put things in perspective. My first thoughts were about the Lake Geneva populace supporting it too.

yeah, people think of Lake Geneva as a town full of rich people who spend money like crazy but closer to reality it is a town full of middle to low class people who support the tourist industry in service sector jobs.  My sister teaches there and the cross section of her students would bear that out.  Of course there are the private schools for the upper class who don't trust the public school system but IMO the purchasing power of the town is represented by the public schools.

It's a town that caters to the tourism industry.  It is a nightmare to travel through in the summer and its a ghost town in the winter.   A lot of the "rich" residents are transient meaning they have summer or weekend homes there but pack up and leave during the winter or during the week.

I do think one of Ken's biggest downfalls was his failure to keep his shop looking all bright and shiny and new.  I don't feel bad in saying that because a) I think he would agree and b) I fell into the same trap to an extent and my shop wasn't 30 years old.  Ken was old school and felt that superior stock and knowledgeable staff were the most important factors to potential pet store customers and for a long time you could get away with that.  Nowadays, with the internet and everything you could possibly want, including information, just a click away you have to go above and beyond to reach out to people.  I just don't think Ken did enough to reach out to new people to replace the old ones that left the hobby.  Heck when you are as old as Ken is a lot of those guys didn't just leave, they died.

I do not know Bruce at all but I am sure he will have at least one thing going for him that Ken did not have.  He will have an enthusiasm for his new venture.  I don't know if that enthusiasm will be enough to carry him through but if it gives him what it takes to take the steps that Ken failed to take then he has a chance.  I don't know when he is around, I've driven by a few times this week during the day and he was not around.  If he works days maybe he is only around at night.  I'll catch him some time and stop in and say hi an wish him the best.  If he can retain a good working relation with Apet that will probably help as well. 

Maybe, if he is not thinking about it already, I will try to talk him into adding a small reptile and terrestrial invertebrate section.  Not much, just a few small geckos corn snakes and tarantulas.